Chain Reaction
by Myra the Sark
Summary: Can't come up with a summary at the moment. Plot isn't developed enough...yet.
1. Chapter 1

**If anyone has a name suggestion for my OC commander, throw it at me. I'm at my wit's end here! "Primal effect" belongs to ChibiDragonGilbert. Just a thought I was batting around with said fellow author... ~Myra**

* * *

If any of them had known what would happen that day, they would've chosen to go a different way, or have stayed in bed.

Chase gritted his teeth. He seriously wished he'd chosen to go the other way, instead of risking a close pass with a STORM base. Of course, they risked it anyhow…and they had been noticed by a recon patrol, which immediately called for backup.

So now they were dealing with three Elites, an unfamiliar black-haired gray-eyed man who they assumed was another commander, _and_ Charlemagne. They'd barely managed to get the commander's winged fox-like Monsuno, Emberwings, back into its core.

Of course, they still had Blackbullet (why Charlemagne had spun it out instead of Driftblade, Chase would never know), Skysite, Airchopper, and Crossbolt to deal with.

Charger and boost were still holding strong. Arachnablade was barely hanging in there. Lock and Quickforce had at least half of their health left.

Chase was also pretty sure that the 8-minute mark was coming up…and right as Lock was about to attack Airchopper, both automatically returned to their cores. As did the others, though Crossbolt slammed into an icy ledge, causing it to crumble before returning to its core. They _were _in the vicinity of the Northpoint tundra, after all.

What got all of their attention was a bright-green flash of light—Wild Core. _Krag! _The surprise of it made him stumble and slip, and he fell forwards—barely aware that one of his other cores went skidding across the ice.

The sun also chose to come out from behind snow-filled clouds at that moment as well. Which was Problem #2, since the snow and ice were _highly reflective_. Not to mention Chase still had afterimages from the Wild Core's initial flash in his vision.

"Blazes that's bright!" he heard Dax exclaim.

Chase tried opening one eye a little. There was a core a few feet away in front of him. Was it Nitestone's? Figuring it was, he lunged for it.

* * *

Charlemagne definitely hadn't expected that Wild Core to be there. They didn't know much about them, but she was sure that she and the others had been in the effect radius. She also knew she dropped Driftblade's core, and she thought she saw it a few feet away from her.

Of course, she instantly lunged for it.

* * *

As soon as they touched the cores, however, both instantly wished they hadn't…and two piercing screams echoed around the area.

* * *

"Chase?" Jinja asked fearfully. That scream scared her, it really did.

"Commandant?" the unfamiliar commander queried. Jinja noted that…he didn't really sound concerned at all.

Both of them were just crouched there, gripping the cores they had tightly. Chase looked up—and the others of Team Core-Tech immediately knew that something was _horribly_ wrong. For one, his eyes looked like a Monsuno's—glowing bright-yellow. Markings the same exact shade had appeared on his face as well, and they eerily resembled Driftblade's marks. And when she looked, she saw that Chase was actually holding Driftblade's core.

As for Charlemagne, it was basically the same….except her eyes were glowing blue, and the markings reminded Jinja of Nitestone. The Commandant-Marshal was holding said Monsuno's core.

The two lunged at each other without warning, immediately in a full-out brawl. "What's going on?!" Bren asked, clearly scared.

Jinja saw that Beyal had gone very pale. "Beyal?" she asked. "Do you know…?"

The white-haired boy nodded slowly. "It is the Primal effect. It occurs when a controller absorbs their Monsuno's essence…"

"Uh, little problem with that monkfish," Dax started.

"I am aware," Beyal responded. "The Monsunos they are possessed by—they are not the type of Monsuno that they use. It is likely that they will suffer consequences afterwards."

"What kind of…consequences?" Jinja asked.

"I do not know. The best would be to either calm them or cause them to become unconscious—the latter would be easiest."

"Why?" Bren asked.

"Because…they are not mentally stable at the moment."

Jinja reacted on impulse. She and the others hadn't been in the Wild Core's effect radius when it went off, so she wasn't worried. "Whipper, launch!"

Beyal followed up: "Glowblade, launch!"

The cores collided with a rock, and both Monsunos were out in an instant. The two under the Primal effect paused, and glared at the Monsunos, actually _snarling _at them.

"Glowblade, restrain Chase," Beyal said. The three-headed snake moved quickly, and though Chase attempted to get away from it…well, he was moving faster than usual, but he stumbled a lot, which was probably the only reason Glowblade managed to wrap its tail around Chase, keeping him still.

Jinja slowly went up to him. "Chase?" she asked. "C-Calm down, okay?"

He growled in response, glaring daggers at her. He honestly looked scary. Without warning he freed himself from Glowblade's tail and tried to run.

Acting on impulse she lunged and tackled him down…only to have him actually _bite_ her hand. _HARD._

She bit her lip to keep from screaming. Exactly five seconds later Chase was promptly knocked out cold by Dax. The yellow markings faded immediately, and Chase went limp. Jinja stood, as a stream of yellow essence split off of him and went into Driftblade's core—which Chase still had clutched tightly in his right hand.

Jinja took account of her hand, and winced. "Youch!" Bren whistled. "Did…did _Chase_ do that?"

"The ginger-haired girl nodded mutely. He'd actually left a bite mark, which was bleeding.

"Yeah, well what about soldier-lady?" Dax asked.

They looked over to where Whipper was—and saw that it had cornered Charlemagne…and they noticed something _seriously _wrong with her. For one, they saw gold-streaked blue crystals on her shoulders, like Nitestone's crystal-spikes.

Judging by Beyal's expression, that was _very _bad.

One thing that Jinja didn't understand, however…was that the unnamed commander and the Elites had all vanished.

She turned her attention back to the matter at hand—and yelped and leapt back before the possessed controller slashed her in the face. Another difference—she had claws now as well, as well as slightly-lengthened canine-teeth.

Whipper instantly leapt to the defense of its controller, lashing out with a paw. There as a shriek, and one of the gold-blue crystals fell into the snow, slightly bloodied.

Before anything else could happen, Dax hit Charlemagne in the side of the head with a stick, hard. She dropped like a rock, unconscious. As they watched, Nitestone's essence split off from her and went to its core—which she also still held tightly. She was also suddenly normal again, though there were bloodstains starting to show on her white jacket.

Jinja and Beyal called their Monsunos back into their cores, and one whole minute went by. Then Bren said, "Uh, we might want to find shelter—looks like there's a blizzard coming."

But as they started walking away, Beyal suddenly said, "Charlemagne."

"What about her?" Dax asked bluntly, looking slightly annoyed—seeing as he was the one stuck carrying Chase.

"We cannot simply leave her," the young monk went on. "Otherwise…"

"…she'll die," Jinja finished solemnly. At Bren's and Dax's looks, she added, "Those guys from STORM just left. Think about it!"

Bren was silent, and Dax grumbled something before saying, "Well, someone's gonna have to take Suno, then."

"I got him," Jinja said. Her friend was limp as a ragdoll—he was really unconscious. He also felt unusually warm…

* * *

As soon as they were out of earshot, two people emerged from behind some boulders and into the clearing. "Well, _that _was quite the show," Hargrave noted.

"Yes…a very entertaining one," Emmanuel Klipse agreed. "Informational, as well…I was unaware that the Primal effect could be brought into play like that." He turned his attention to the bloodstained snow and crystal. "Hargrave?"  
"Yes, sir…" The butler took a vial and collected a portion of the blood. Klipse smirked darkly. _It seems Charlemagne may have provided a lead for my research…_


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry it's so short. ~Myra  
**

* * *

Luckily they found a small cavern before the blizzard hit. Both Chase and Charlemagne were at least in a partial state of consciousness, and they were clinging so tightly onto the cores they had that their hands were looking a bit white. And when Jinja had asked Chase to let go, he had mumbled something that sounded like "its mine."

As for Charlemagne, she _looked_ wide-awake…but it was as if she didn't notice them at all. She also had a tight grip on Nitestone's core. Jinja had decided to do a nice thing and move her jacket so it wouldn't get any more stained than it already was. The injuries that the amber-eyed woman had on her shoulders were still bleeding a little.

Not to mention Beyal had pointed out that they both had mild fevers. "I take it that those are the _side-effects_ you mentioned?" Jinja asked.

Beyal nodded. "Some."

"_Some_?" Bren repeated. Earlier, he had gone back and gotten the gold-streaked blue crystal (he had cleaned it off with snow, of course).

"They will likely get worse before they get better." At that, Jinja looked worried, and glanced over at Chase. Dax, meanwhile, seemed to be considering something.

Then he muttered "What am I doing?" before taking a cell-phone out and dialing a number. To all their surprise, he said, "Hey, doc? We have a bit of a situation…"

"…"

"You know anything about a so-called _Primal-effect_?"

"…!"

"Yeah, it happened. Your son…and Charlemagne."

"…?"

"Yeah. There was…a bit of a mix-up with the cores."

Silence on that one.

"Dax, who are you talking to?" Jinja asked, suspicion in her voice.

Dax glanced at her, then said to the person on the phone, "Jinja wants to talk to you."

He promptly gave the phone to her, in time for her to hear a familiar voice say "Dax, what—?"

She knew who it was. "Dr. Suno?" she asked, incredulous.

Jeredy cut himself off, and started slowly, "Jinja, how's Chase?"

"Um…" She looked at her friend. "Well, he has a fever, and he's a bit delusional. And he won't let go of the core."

Jeredy obviously hesitated before asking, "Which one?"

"Driftblade. And whip-lady's not letting go of Nitestone's—she's just as bad. And they actually ditched her out here!" The sheer unjustness of the situation made her blurt the last part.

Silence met her. Then Jeredy said, "Can you give the phone back to Dax, please?"

She did as such, and Dax said, "What?" A few moments later, he looked shocked. "Seriously? You sure about that?" Another small silence. "Alright then…" He hung up.

The only sounds now were the incomprehensible, fevered mumblings of Chase and Charlemagne. "So?" Bren asked.

"Well, the doc wants to see all of us."

"Wait," Jinja started. "_All_?"

Dax nodded. "I personally think he's crazy. But he asked me to bring 'em, so…"

Jinja, Bren, and Beyal all exchanged looks. "I do not think that this has much chance of ending well," Beyal noted quietly.

"You and me both, monkfish."

* * *

It was a bit of a hassle getting everyone to the Lowlands. Especially when they had to switch the Monsunos out—they didn't want to risk a mid-air one, so they had to land every seven minutes. Thankfully Chase was pretty light for a guy, and it _seriously _helped that Charlemagne hadn't really woken up at all.

Jeredy was waiting for them outside of his hidden lab—which was inside of a cliff, in a well-hidden spot. He took one look at the two, and his eyes darkened. "Get them inside," he said.

"Um…did this happen before?" Bren asked hesitantly.

The scientist nodded. "Once. It…didn't end well."

"What happened?" Bren asked.

Jeredy shook his head. "Not now. Later."


End file.
